Optical frequency pulsing has a host of diverse uses. However, there are two principal categories into which optical frequency pulsing may conveniently be placed. A first has to do with using frequency pulsing to encode information for transmission across fiber optic lines. A second broad category of use for optical frequency pulsing is the identification of physical properties of molecules. Each of these uses of optical frequency pulsing has limitations that have prevented full exploitation of the technology.
For example, a limitation in the use of optical frequency pulsing for transmission of information is the relatively wide bandwidth of individual frequency pulses, resulting in overlapping pulses over large transmission distances. As frequency pulses proceed along a fiberoptic line, pulse width increases. Over fairly modest distances, the overlap of frequency lines can result in a loss of digital information content. Another limitation is the difficulty in generating a plurality of different, closely spaced frequencies which limits signal resolution.
The identification and characterization of physical substrates using frequency pulses is limited by the ability to provide sufficiently narrow, stable pulses at high frequency in order to obtain precise physical chemical resolution of the target substrate. Typical methods for optical analysis of substrates involve interferometric measurements. Such measurements necessarily result in decreased resolution in space and time. Therefore, interferometric measurements are less than ideal.
There is a need in the art to provide optical frequency pulse methodology that provides pulses having narrow line width, wide spectral width and high repetition rate in order to enable efficient optical communications and detection high-resolution detection of physical substrates.